Dead Island Riptide Gameplay Trailer Depicts Hub Defense

Deep Silver has released the first-ever gameplay footage from Dead Island: Riptide. The nine-minute video shows off a couple of the major new features that Techland has introduced in this game.

Riptide is set on the zombie-infested island of Palanai, which has just been hit by a monsoon. As a result, much of the island is flooded. Players will have to have to use boats to traverse many areas. They'll also have to watch out for zombies lurking beneath the water.

In the video, the player gathers up heavy machine guns from a downed helicopter. He then brings them to a nearby ruin where survivors have gathered. The survivors are about to use a water pump to drain the water out of the lower level of the ruin. However, zombies are going to be drawn by the sound. The player has to set up a defensive perimeter using the machine guns as well as fences and mines, and then fend off the zombie attack.

Riptide's hub defense scenarios should be fun. I mean, that sort of Horde mode stuff is rarely boring in any game. However, it's such a standard feature in shooters these days that it's tough to get too excited.

A lot of YouTube comments have been bashing the Riptide footage for being too close to the original Dead Island. The thing that's weird about Riptide is that, even though it continues the storyline of the original, it's not being touted as a sequel. Instead, the publisher is describing it as a spin-off. Furthermore, it's priced at $50 instead of $60. Nonetheless, gamers are expecting it to be a sequel so hopefully the game has plenty of improvements and additions to make it feel new.